Health HandoutsHealth handouts, wellness handouts, fitness handouts and more…

A health and wellness fair is a fantastic way to familiarize staff members with health issues and related wellness programs. During a health and wellness fair staff members might be able to obtain resource materials; participate in provided health screenings (vision, hearing, blood, blood lipids, cancer, dental, etc.); observe demonstrations on the use of fitness equipment; attend mini-courses on various health issues; get free promotional items from local companies; sample healthy foods; and gather information about their health benefit plan.

Some corporations feature a “health & benefit fair” which includes vendors representing the various employee benefit plans (long-term disability, retirement, etc.) available to employees through their organization.

Considerations when coordinating a health & wellness fair:

• Setting up a successful health & wellness fair takes extensive time. Time problems ought to be taken into account in planning and organizing such an event. The most time consuming part is generally contacting potential participants, making arrangements for their participation, confirming their participation, and setting up the day of the event.
• Sufficient space, tables and chairs must be on hand to allow for the number of vendors invited. Some vendors may have portable displays or materials that will require additional space, access to electrical outlets, or other logistical considerations that must be discussed prior to the wellness fair.
• Vendors will be hoping to make contact with as many persons as possible during the event. Securing their commitment to future health & wellness fairs requires that every effort be made to promote participation by publicizing the event, selecting the proper venue, and offering rewards and incentives.
• If possible, locate the health and wellness fair in an area with heavy foot traffic.
• Ask vendors to bring free materials at their table and to make a donation to a prize drawing. Follow all business policies when soliciting donations.
• As an idea to increase employee participation and to keep interest high, each attendee could be given a “passport”, similar to a bingo card, to be signed by each vendor. The signed passport becomes the ticket for the prize drawings. Such drawings should take place every 15 or 30 minutes.
• Consider teaming up with nearby businesses to host a health & wellness fair. A group effort will distribute the work and maximize participation.

Ideas for a Benefits Fair:

Include representatives from each of your employee benefits provider groups. Ask each vendor to be prepared to answer employee questions concerning their program. Representatives might include:

• Retirement plan representative.
• Long-term disability plan representative.
• Health plan representative.
• Health Benefits representative.
• Contract cell phone representative (if applicable).
• Local savings and loan or credit union representative.
• Workers’ compensation representative.

Limited Space for a Health Fair: If space is limited conduct the fair at lunch time. Place stations in business hallways or in individual small conference or office rooms located throughout the building. Offer a map with all the stations listed. Have a free drawing awarding a prize for anyone who goes to 75 percent of the stations. Use a punch card or similar method to verify.

Resources for health & benefit fairs coordination:

Assume a broad definition of “health” and reflect that by involving a variety of vendors and services involved with physical, mental, economic and social health; for example, health agencies, safety businesses, benefits providers, local healthcare facilities, recreational facilities, parks, monetary planners, childcare referrals, EAP, health clubs, health food stores, library, alternative and complementary medicine providers, etc.

Job Site wellness screenings can take a variety of forms. Common screening components may include:

• Blood Pressure (BP) and heart rate.
• Cholesterol (typically a finger-stick total cholesterol test, either fasting or non-fasting).
• Blood glucose (diabetes screening).
• Height and weight.
• Percent body fat and/or BMI (body mass index).
• Fitness level.
• Bone density.
• Posture assessment.

Considerations when offering worksite screenings:

• Wellness screenings must be conducted by qualified, and at times, licensed individuals.
• Health screenings must be conducted in a location that allows for privacy and confidentiality.
• Time for discussion and explanation screening results must be given as part of the evaluation process.
• A process must be in place for referral for participants whose results are indicative of a need for further medical assessment.
• Screenings can be very costly to the overriding wellness budget OR there may be no cost to the program if participants are willing to cover the cost of the assessment themselves. For example, cholesterol and glucose testing usually costs twenty to twenty-five dollars per person, per exam. Employees may be willing to pay for assessment in exchange for the convenience of having the assessment at work.
• It generally works best to have scheduled appointments at intervals sufficient to allow time for the assessment and a brief discussion of results. Therefore, a registration and scheduling process must be devised.
• Some types of evaluation, such as fitness testing, require participants to bring casual clothes in which to do the testing. Staff Members ought to be notified of the need to dress in a specific manner for the evaluation.
• To ensure high attendance at screening events, it is advisable to start promotion of the event with reminders to staff members.
• Supply employees with “screening preparation” standard procedures to remind them how to prepare for the most accurate assessment results.

Resources for worksite screenings:

1. Consult with a wellness consultant or health screening employer.
2. If employee participation is sparse for on-Site health screenings, or if offering additional workplace assessment is an option, check with the area health or outreach department of your local hospital, health education department, occupational health department or workplace health department as to screenings they might offer.
3. Local health clubs may also have qualified employee for some types of screenings, such as fitness testing or body fat measuring.

Points to Keep in Mind

Using Certified Professionals

Hire professionally certified instructors to lead fitness classes (whether on or offsite) or to run worksite lunch and learn meetings.  It’s also a good idea to ask the instructor for references.

When you hire instructors, make sure that your insurance protects both the instructor and your corporation.

Risk Management

Whether we like it or not, liability is a concern these days.

Risk management plans do not have to be complex or pricey. For example, part of the plan might require that staff members complete fitness appraisals and sign statements accepting the possible risks involved in physical exercise. It pays to be prepared. Safety and emergency policies and procedures decrease the risk of loss both to individuals and to your corporation.

Ask staff members to fill out a waiver when participating in both workplace and offsite activities. For liability reasons, staff members must know the risks involved in participating in the exercise and understand that they are waiving their right to sue.

The employee ought to not be asked to sign the waiver just before the activity. The waiver may be invalid if staff members state that they didn’t totally understand the risks.

Other Safety Tips

Here’s a list of some other safety tips to keep in mind when planning physical activity.

Look at the environment where staff members are active:

• Sidewalks ought to be clear of ice and snow, away from falling debris or snow, and have clearly marked curbs and safe crosswalks.
• Stairwells ought to be well-lit and in good condition and have handrails and safety features, so that workers are not locked out of floors.
• Fitness facilities must have proper flooring, great ventilation, and access to water and an emergency phone.

Offer medical evaluation for staff members participating in activities:

• PAR-Q
• PAR-MEDX for Pregnancy

Below are some other significant safety factors:

• First-aid kit and automated external defibrillator on site.
• Emergency Action Plan (EAP) in place and practised.
• Commercial grade fitness equipment (not donated, “hand me down” equipment).
• Documented equipment inspection and maintenance schedule.
• Orientation of equipment and programs done by certified professional with a physical exercise background.

To make a difference in the lives of your fellow staff members, you first need to grasp that getting active is not only a matter of choice. Some things are within our individual control, but others are molded by the individuals and circumstances in which we live and work.

It’s Easier to Be Active When…

• We know what to do and have the confidence, skills and opportunity to do it.
• It’s fun. “Working out” at the fitness center does not appeal to everyone. Activities need to reflect what people enjoy.
• Our friends, family or co-workers are active with us (or at least support us).
• We feel safe, thanks to well-lit streets or stairways.
• Sidewalks, walking/biking trails, parks and gyms are nearby.
• We have money to pay for equipment, instruction or memberships.
• We can walk, bike or take public transit to work.
• Active choices such as taking the stairs, having stretch breaks at meetings and going outside during lunch are “normal” in the worksite.
• Managers support and recognize employee efforts. Better yet, they participate.
• We can juggle our work hours to fit in physical activity.

Think about how you might create some of these conditions in your worksite. By taking these steps, you’ll increase the likelihood that staff members both want and are able to be active during working hours.

Workplace physical exercise drives that focus only on individuals have limited success. Research shows that reaching people in various ways gives the best chance of long-term success.

A plan directed at multiple echelons is also called an “ecological approach.”

The sort of evaluation you choose depends on when you do it and the kind of information you gather.

This section describes when to use three types: formative, process and summative evaluations.

During the Planning Stage

Use formative evaluations in the planning stages to ensure that your program is based on solid information. These evaluations also help you to advance effective and appropriate materials and procedures.

Examples of formative evaluations include:

• records of senior staff commitments to the program
• employee interest surveys
• workplace environmental assessments
• pre-testing of program materials

During Your Initiative

A process evaluation is used when the program is underway. These evaluations help you:

• track what is going well and what isn’t (and how to revise your program)
• learn if you are reaching the staff members you want to reach
• describe the initiative to others
• monitor who is participating in the initiative

During or After Your Initiative

Summative evaluations happen when the program is already in place or completed. Use this sort of assessment to measure what staff members like about the program and what might be improved.

All three types of evaluations have their place. The assessment you choose depends on the time and financial resources you have available.

What Do You Wish to Achieve?

Consider why you’re evaluating and what your evaluation is going to measure.

If you’re trying to find out whether plan has been thriving, see if you stuck to your mission statement and met your objectives and goals.

If you don’t have a mission statement or objectives and goals, decide with senior staff and your employee Workplace Wellness Program Committee how your organization will measure success.

For example, you can track success by changes in:

• Physical measures (e.g., strength, flexibility, waist circumference of staff members).
• Psychological measures (e.g., employee morale, satisfaction levels, stress levels).
• Productivity measures (e.g., reduction in absenteeism rates, increased employee work rate).

Thinking About workers

If you’re thinking of making improvements to the initiative, consider whether the initiative is still relevant and appropriate for workers. Find out if there are any barriers to participation in the program or to participation in physical exercise during the workday.

As workers are the ones participating in the program, it’s important to give them a chance to offer feedback on the physical activity plan.

Choosing an Assessment Method

Decide on your evaluation method. Both measurable results (e.g., absenteeism rates or questionnaire responses) and descriptive results (e.g., one-on-one interviews or focus groups) can be used to evaluate. The method you choose will depend on the time and funding available and what you want to measure.

Deciding How to Do the Evaluation

Plan when and where you will do your assessment (and who will be evaluated). For more information, read the “Types of Evaluations” section on this website.
You might want to pilot test your assessment (e.g., with participants of the Company Health Promotion Program Committee) before sending it out to workers. The employee Company Health Promotion Program Committee might also want to evaluate the initiative’s planning process.

Doing the Evaluation

• Compare your results to baseline information (i.e., assessment results from before the launch of your initiative). If you don’t have this information, save your assessment results to compare with later results. You can also look at other information you may have, such as employee satisfaction survey results.
• Analyze and share meaningful and easy-to-understand results with upper management and employees.
• Assessment results can be used to better the current physical exercise program and/or to cultivate new drives in future.

Prior to starting your Workplace Physical Activity Program, summarize the information you’ve collected and plan your next steps.

At this point, you have

• gained backing from upper management for the Workplace Physical Activity Program
• formed an Company Wellness Program Committee
• assessed what is possible in your workplace
• found out what employees want and need in a Workplace Physical Activity Program.

Based on this information, you’re now ready to foster your action plan to improve physical exercise at your workplace.

With the Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee, take the following steps.

• Combine the outcome of the employee survey with the workplace environmental assessment, and report to senior staff and employees.
• Prioritize the possibilities at each of the “levels” (individual, social, company, community, policy) in the workplace listed in “Keys to Success”. For example, suppose a sizable group of workers show an interest in biking to work. Since these individuals may want to shower and change after their commute each day, you might give showers and changing facilities priority in your workplace. Bike racks might also be significant for making employees’ bikes secure during work.
• Consult the list of practical suggestions found this website.
• Create a mission statement (one which aligns with your organization’s overall mission statement) to define your purpose and help guide your process. Setting objectives will help you achieve your mission statement.
• Put together a plan or blueprint discussing what you have learned. Make program and exercise recommendations with timelines, identify resources and assign responsibilities. Revisit the list of tasks outlined in “Step 2: Forming an Employee Committee.” Seek management approval to move ahead.
• Once your plan is in place, it’s significant to encourage it to employees. Organizing a launch is a great way to do this. A formal kick-off also demonstrates upper management responsibility. If employees do not know about the plan, they can’t take advantage of it!
• Decide what you need to track to show that you have reached your goals and objectives. Measure these factors before you begin. This way, when you evaluate later, you will know if there has been a change.

To succeed in encouraging physical activity during the workday, you must learn what employees need and want. They are the people whose actions you are trying to influence, so it’s vital to know their needs and gain their backing.

The Employee Interest Survey

Ask employees questions that allow you to assess such key characteristics as age, sex, social relationships, family responsibilities and current physical activity participation.

It’s important to know this information so that your physical exercise initiative meets employees’ needs. Staff Members will not participate in something they’re not interested in.

Ask workers what they want, and then implement changes that fit with their needs and working conditions. By way of example, workers may not want to do activities that make them sweat, because they do not want to shower at work.

Ask employees what the employer could do to make it easier for them to be more physically active during work. If there’s a common trend throughout your organization, a single change could affect a lot of individuals.

For example, suppose a large group shows interest in biking to work. They may want to shower and change after their commute. You might give priority to installing workplace showers and changing facilities. Secure bike storage might be important as well.

If you’re starting a program that requires going outside, start in the spring. By the time winter arrives, participation is already a habit.

Involving staff members is key to expanding physical activity participation rates. People are more willing to participate in and support physical activity initiatives when they are involved in decision making.

The following tips will help you produce your own employee interest survey:

• Keep it short (no longer than 10 minutes to complete).
• Make sure staff members know why you are doing the survey.
• Rather than using all open-ended questions, which can be long and tough to analyze, ask people to choose from a drop-down list of possible responses.
• Ask for comments and suggestions in one open-ended question at the end.
• Make it confidential and anonymous. Do not request information that may identify a person.
• If you’re including a list of possible programs or environmental changes, see that your workplace has the facilities and resources to offer them.

Workplace Physical Activity Programs: Forming an Employee Committee

Although backing from the top is critical to a efficacious plan, backing from other workers is also important.

Once you get the go-ahead from senior staff, identify others who are interested in the project and form a Employee Wellness Program Committee to help determine the next steps. Depending on the size of your workplace and the amount of employee time management is willing to contribute, this Employee Wellness Program Committee may be advisory or may plan and carry out the program.

The Employee Health Promotion Program Committee could include staff members from human resources, occupational health and safety and finance. It’s also a good idea to involve employee from other areas who have an interest in promoting physical exercise. Terms of reference will define the boundaries of the project. For example, it’s valuable for the Employee Health Promotion Program Committee to have clearly defined and understood tasks. Possible tasks include the following:

• Assessing your workplace environment
• Carrying out an employee interest survey.
• Implementing a mission statement and objectives.
• Writing a physical activity or wellness policy declaring the organization’s responsibility to physical activity.
• Brainstorming program ideas.
• Promoting, communicating and marketing the program.
• Coordinating specific activities.
• Deciding how the initiative will be evaluated.
• Continually assessing what is or isn’t working and adjusting the plan.

Prior to making plans to advocate physical activity during work, it’s important to discover what is “doable” in your workplace.

You do not want to raise employee expectations by offering something that’s not feasible due to funding or space limits. By way of example, it’s not realistic to suggest putting in a fitness facility if there’s no space for it. Be open, however, to creative ways around limitations.

Workplace Physical Activity Programs: Finding out What’s Possible in Your Workplace

Check with recreation departments or fitness facilities for maps of the local walking trails or underground pedways. Great walking trails may be right around the block from your workplace.

Below are some questions to help you assess your workplace:

• What facilities or opportunities does your work space have that make it easier to be physically active during the workday? By way of example, do you have stairs, bike racks, showers, space for a fitness facility, factory walking lanes?
• What nearby facilities or opportunities might employees use to be more physically active during the workday? Are you close to sidewalks, walking trails, community centres, bike lanes for active commuting and/or exercise facilities?
• What resources are available?
• Can the program access funds, personnel, space, equipment, facilities?
• What is the structure of your organization? For example, consider employee size, working hours, number of sites, unusual shifts, length of lunch breaks and ability to use flex time.

Gaining senior staff support is essential to the success of a physical exercise initiative.

Whether the changes you’d like to see involve the work environment, overall policies or specific programs, successfully implementing your ideas depends on senior staff reinforcement.

Support from senior staff is essential for three reasons:

• You need their support to involve workers in a workplace program.
• When senior staff pays attention to and supports plan, employees also view the plan as worthwhile.
• Senior Management has the authority to give work time and money to support the initiative.

It’s significant to keep upper management involved throughout a physical activity plan, but at three points you’ll need reinforcement for:

• An central concept, including a go-ahead to evaluate what employees want to do within the limitations of your workplace environment.
• A detailed plan (based on the assessment above) coupled with resources to carry out the plan.
• Reviewing the initiative to improve it along the way or to advocate for continuing or expanding the initiative.

Approaching Senior Management

Before going to management to gain initial support for promoting physical activity during work, do your homework.

• Prepare a business case clearly outlining how the business will benefit by promoting physical exercise during the workday.
• List the individual, social and corporate benefits of physical exercise and the benefits of being active during work.
• Present some cursory ideas about what the program could include. See the Success Stories and Ideas sections on this website to highlight what other workplaces have done.

Expect questions such as the following from management:

• How will this help our corporation?
• How can we motivate workers to take part?
• How much will it cost to run this program or make this change?
• How will we know a year from now whether or not this was a meaningful use of time and resources?

Ask managers about the types of activities they would support. Often managers have their own ideas they would like to see acted on to better the workplace.

Remember to include middle managers when gaining backing for your initiative. They may prove to be very helpful when you need volunteers to lead teams in corporate physical exercise challenges.